Operations, such as surveying, drilling, wireline testing, completions, production, planning and field analysis, are typically performed to locate and gather valuable downhole fluids. Surveys are often performed using acquisition methodologies, such as seismic scanners or surveyors to generate maps of underground formations. These formations are often analyzed to determine the presence of subterranean assets, such as valuable fluids or minerals, or to determine whether the formations include characteristics suitable for storing fluids.
During drilling and production operations, data is typically collected for analysis and/or monitoring of the operations. Such data may include, for instance, information regarding subterranean formations, equipment, and historical and/or other data.
Typically, simulators are designed to model specific behavior of discrete portions of the wellbore operation. Due to the complexity of the oilfield operation, most simulators are capable of only evaluating a specific segment of the overall production system such as simulation of the reservoir. Simulations of portions of the wellsite operation, such as reservoir simulation, flow through the wellbore or surface processing, are usually considered and used individually.
A change in any segment of the production system, however, often has cascading effects on the upstream and downstream segments of the production system. For example, restrictions in the surface network can reduce productivity of the reservoir. Separate simulations typically fail to consider the data or outputs of other simulators, and fail to consider these cascading effects.